Law Reform Flashcards
Law Reform
Reform of the law means changing, amending, improving and correcting areas of the law which have been identified as problematic. This may be due to:
• The age of statute
• The existence of common law governing for example offences against the person
• The language of legislation which may have been shown to be ambiguous (Dangerous Dogs Act 1981/ OAPA 1861) or unsatisfactory.
It is important to have an independent body to oversee law reform so it can be approached in an organised way, free from political influence
S.3 of The Law Commissions Act 1965
“It shall be the duty of each of the Commissions to take and keep under review all the law with which they are respectively concerned with a view to its systematic development and reform, including in particular the codification of such law, the elimination of anomalies,
the repeal of obsolete and unnecessary enactments, the reduction of a number of separate enactments and generally the
simplification and modernisation of the Law”
S3(1) The aim of the commission is to ensure that law is
-Fair
-Modern
-Simple
-Cost effective
Law commission consists of
A chairman (usually high court judge)
4 Commissioners
Other support staff : barristers , solicitors, academics , parliamentary draftsmen
Law Commission
A topic for research is chosen by the Law Commission or referred by the government— Need government approval to draft a report on selected area
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Law Commission researches the law seeking views on possible reform
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Law Commission issues consultation paper which describes the current law, sets out the problems and looks at options for reform
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Law Commission issues final report— created following the response. Often has a draft bill attached
Functions of the Law Commission
Reform
Repeal
Codification
Consolidation
Reform
Researching and offering suggestions
• Either their own suggestions or through recommendations
• From judges, lawyers, Government Departments, the voluntary and business
sectors, and the general public as well as projects that are referred to us by Government Departments
• Criteria for law reform: importance, suitability and resources
Repeal
Getting rid of old laws that no longer relevant
• Investigate whether they are still required and prepare repeals bill for Parliament
• Parliament will then consider if unnecessary/ irrelevant
• By 2015 19 Statute Law (repeals) and 3000 old acts repealed
By ‘tidying up’ the statute book helps the law become more accessibl
Codification
Writing up unwritten laws: bringing together statutory law and judicial
precedent on a topic into one single law
• Achieved by the Sentencing code for (The Sentencing Act 2020)
• This brought the laws on sentencing for young and adult offenders together into one document
Consolidation
Drawing all existing provisions together in one Act to make the law more accessible.
• Law Commission produces around 5 Consolidation bills a year
• Not always successful for example for many years sentencing practice and procedure was contained in 4 different statutes.
(Sentencing Act 2020)
Successes of the Law Commission
LC has not yet achieved its original idea of codification of many areas of the law – it
has had some success in some other areas
• After creation around 85% of LC proposals enacted by Parliament including The Occupiers Liability Act 1984
• Only 50% of suggestions have become law – lack of parliamentary time and interest
• LC tried to deal with non-acceptance of reports by requiring the Lord Chancellor to
tell Parliament every year why the proposals have been rejected
Recent Reforms
• The Fraud Act 2006 : simplified the law on fraud
• The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 : made
corporations and organisations criminally liable for deaths caused by their working practices
• The Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015 : included reform of contempt by jurors and juror misconduct in using the internet
Advantages of The Law Commission
- Researched by legal experts
- Consults before finalising proposals
- Whole areas of law are considered
- Politically independent and has the aim of improving the law
- Old, irrelevant laws removed
Disadvantages of The Law Commission
- Parliament does not implement all proposals
- Gov not bound to consult LC before bringing any changes to Parliament
- Gov not bound to accept LC recommendations
- Parliament may not have time to consider and debate ‘pure’ law issues
